Method of and apparatus for forging manifolds on pipes



Aug. 5 1924. T. F. BIRMINGHAM METHOD OF AND APPARATUS FOR FORGING MANIFOPDS ON PIPES 5 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed Feb. 21, 1922 Aug. 5. 1924.

T. F. BIRMINGHAM METHOD OF AND APPARATUS FOR FORGING MANIFOLDS ON PIPES Filed Feb. 21, 1922 5 Sheets-Sheet 2 I unnuml nllllll HIIIIIIIIM IIHIIIIIII'" THOMAS p B\RM\NQHAM INVENTOR BY p 763/ ATTORNEY Aug. .5 1924. 1,503,469

T. F. BIRMINGHAM METHOD OF AND APPARATUS FOR FORGING MANIFOLDS ON PIPES Filed Feb. 21 192 2 5 Sheets-Sheet a? J THOMAS F,

EEVHNGHAM INVENTOR 7a,! ATTORNEY Aug. 5 .1924. 1,503,469

I T. F. BIRMINGHAM METHOD OF AND APPARATUS FOR FORGING MANIFOLDS ON PIPES Filed Feb. 21. 1922 s Sheets-Sheet 4 lHHHIliHmP mmm'o m fi 52 i "WW INVENTOR v ATTORNEY T. F. BIRMINGHAM METHOD OF AND APPARATUS FOR 'FOBGING MANIFOLDS ON PIPES Filed Feb. 21, 192? 5 Sheets-Sheet 5 INVENTOR fi l ATTORNEY Patented Aug. 5, 19 24. I

1,503,469 P TENT OFFICE.

THOMAS E. BIRMINGHAM, OF HAMMOND, INDIANA, ASSIGNOR TO THE SUPERHEATER COMIPANY, OF NEW YORK, N. Y.,

A CORPORATION OF DELAWARE.

METHOD OF AND APPARATUS FOR FORGING MANIFOLDS 0N PIPES.

Application filed February 21, 1922. Serial No. 538,278.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, THOMAS F. BIRMING- HAM. a. citizen of the United States, and resident of Hammond, Indiana, have invent ed certain new and useful Improvements in Methods of and Apparatus for Forging Manifolds 011 Pipes, whereof the following is a specification.

In the United States Patents 1,155,109 and 1,169,209 to True and McKee, there is described a method of making return bends and dies to be used in practicing thismethod. which have become well known and are extensively practiced. In that process a structure is first produced comprising two pipe ends joined by means of a short bridging channel formed of portions of the pipe walls. The pipes and connecting channel are at this stage still open at their ends. Briefly stated, the structure described is made by clamping the two pipes, their ends suitably heated. in position in the peculiarly shaped female die and then forcing home the male die which in its stroke splits the juxtaposed pipe walls, spreads the adjacent portions outward. and simultaneously welds the edges of one to those of the other.

The present invention has for its purpose the extension of said method, and the modification of said dies so certain other structures may be produced in an a-nalagous manner which it has hitherto been impossible or difiicult to make with such methods and apparatus.

In the accompanying drawings. Fig. 1 is a top view of one half of the female die according to my invention;

Fig. 2 is a separate piece or insert forming part of the female die;

Fig. 3 is a cross-section through the female die;

Fig. 4 is a top view of the male die;-

Fig. 5 is an end view of the male die;

Fig. 6 is a section (portions broken away) on line 66 of Fig. 5;

Fig. 10 showing a top view of the lower half of the female die, with the insert in place; i

Fig. 11, an end view male die, closed;

Fig. 12, an end view of the completed structure made according to this modification; V

Fig. 13, a section of the male die on line 13 -13, Fig. 14.;

Fig. 14, an end view of the male die;

of the complete fe- Fig. 15, a structure in perspective as made in this modification.

Figs. 16 and 17 show, in section, structures such as produced by the modification of Figs. 10 to 14, with additional work done on them to adapt them for various uses;

Fig. 18 shows, somewhat diagrammatical- 1y, a female die used in adapting this invention to. three pipes;

Figs. 19 to 22 illustrate a second modification, Fig. 19 being a view corresponding to Fig. 1; Fig. 20, one corresponding to Fig.

4; Fig.21, one corresponding to Fig. 3 with split longitudinally for a certain distance along the lines 1, 2 3, and 4*, and the portions adjacent to these slits are bent outward as indicated by the short curved arrows until the edges abut at 5, 6, 7, and 8, the portions of the pipes that have been bent outward assuming the positions shown by the dotted lines. In the process as performed by me in the dies hereinafter described the splitting and bending out is performed in a single operation on pipes suitably heated and as the edges of the slit portions meet at 5, 6, 7, and 8, they do so with the requisite amount of pressure to produce a good weld along these lines. The resultant structure is shown in Fig. 8, other views appearing incidentally in a number of the other figures.

The die for carrying out this process, shown-in Figs. 1 to 7, comprises a. female die (Figs. 1, 2, 3) and a male die (Figs. 4, 5, 6). The former includes three parts, two of which 9, 10, are symmetrical halves, which it will be understood are by suitable mechanism moved at the proper times into the closed position shown in Fig. 3 or into an open position where they are separated so the insert 11 and the pipes to be operated on can be placed into positionand later removed. The third part, 11, of the female die is a loose insert, whose form will be apparent from Figs. 2 and 3. Its body has four semi-cylindrical grooves, 12, 13, 14, and 15 extendin from end to end; 12 and 13 being separate by the wall 16, and 14 and 15 by the wall 17 The pieces 18 and 19 are looking tongues which fit into corresponding recesses 20, 21, of the two symmetrical halves 9, 10, and serve to hold the insert 11 firmly in position when the die is closed. Co-operating with the semi-cylindrical grooves 12, 13, 14 and 15 of the insert 11 are the semi-cylindrical grooves 22, 23, 24, and 25 of the halves 9 and 10. These grooves extend throughout the length of the die, 22 and 23 being separated by wall 26, and 24 and 25 by wall 27. This results in four cylindrical bores throughout that portion of the die through which the insert 11 extends. The walls 26 and 27 do not extend for the entire length of the die, but terminate at 28 coincidently with the end of walls 16 and 17. The die when closed with the insert in place is therefore in effect a structure with four cylindrical bores through it, the walls between the bores being absent for a certain distance inward from one end.

The male die may be said to be closelycomplementary to the female die. It consists of a body 29 provided with four extensions or legs 30, 31, 32, and 33. These legs are spaced on the same centers as the bores of the female dies and are smaller by an amount depending on the gauge of the pipe to be used. Similarly the body 29 is smaller than the square opening in the female die by a similar amount; and in general the male die when inserted in the female die during the operation will everywhere be spaced from it by an amount roughly equal to the thickness of the pipe operated on.

The legs 30, 31, 32, and 33 merge at their bases into the body 29 in a gentle curve, and this curve is preferably, though not necessarily formed into a rather sharper cutting edge in each case along the lines 34, 35, 36, and 37.

It will be understood that the male die is during the operation forced into the female die by means of any suitable mechanism and then withdrawn.

The method of making the manifold will now be readily understood, and will be briefly described. The four pipes to be operated on are heated at their ends to a welding heat. (Preferably they are clamped together by suitable means in the relative positions they are to occupy in the finished product and heated together, although this is not essential.) They are then inserted in the female die so their ends coincide with the end of the die, the insert being placed into proper position and the die is thenclosed. The male die then performs its stroke. This results in a splitting of the pipes along the lines 1 2 3*, and 4 the bending outward of the adjacent portions and their welding along the lines 5, 6, 7, and 8, as explained above. At the base of the slits the edges of the slit portions meet in such a way that a saddle is formed between each pair of adjacent pipes as clearly appears from an inspection of Fig. 7 and as will be clear to those familiar with the prior related process described in the patents referred to above. These four saddles meet in the center and form a closed partition from the space between the four pipes. As a matter of fact there is ample material present to do this, as there is an excess of material for the formation of the four walls of the square with the pipes spaced as shown. The walls joining at 5, 6, 7, and 8 are made somewhat thicker than the original pipe wall to take care of this excess above the saddles.

The. stroke of the male die having been completed, that member is withdrawn. and the female die halves separated and the loose insert removed from between the four pipes.

A structure made as described may evidently be put to a variety of uses and the particular use it is to be put to will determine any additional manipulation, shaping, etc. to which it may next be subjected. To illustrate one use, Fig. 9 shows it secured to a plate, whichmav be a tube sheet of a boiler, a feedwater heater, or a similar apparatus. To make it possible to roll this four-pipe unit or element into such a plate, the square end formed in the forging process must first be given a circular contour, as indicated by the shading at 38 in Fig. 9. After the end has been so rounded it may be rolled or prossered into a plate in the usual manner.

Instead of first forming the end of the four-pipe element square and then rounding it as just outlined, the end may be given a circular contour at once by giving the dies the proper conformation. A set of dies formed to accomplish this is illustrated in Figs. 19 to 22. It will be seen that the dies are similar in every respect to those described above except'that the outer end is shaped cylindrically. In the male die this is designated by the numeral 39 and in the female by the numeral 40. The square porthe round part 39, and the co-operating part of the femaledie is given a complementary shape, being again of course enough larger than the male to afford the requisite space for the wall.

The action will be obvious. As the rounded portion 39 of the male die enters the rounded space 40 of the female die it expands' out the newly formed square form into the rounded shape corresponding to the dies. It may be pointed out here that there is ample material for this in the four pipes.

Referring now for a moment to Fig. 23, the pipes 1, 2, 3, 4 may each be split along two lines 1", 1, 2 2, 3", 3, and 4, 4; and

the portions adjacent to the slits be bent as. indicated by the arrows so that there re-.

sults an inner square 41 and an outer square, the bent portions being welded to each other along the lines 42, 43, 44, and 45 and 46, 47, 48, and 49. A completed structure of this kind is shown in projection in Fig. 15 and in top view in Fig. 12, and the modified dies to make it will be seen in Figs. 10, 11, 13, and 14.

It will be seen that the space 50 within the square 41 is not in communication with the space 52 surrounding this square; but is an extension of the space between the four pipes below the manifold.

The two symmetrical halves of the female die are shaped substantially like. those of Figs. 1 and 3; but the insert and the male die are modified. The former has an extension 53, which is square in cross-section and is tapered. The two pairs of grooves 12, 13 and 14, 15 again coact with the grooves 22, 23, 24, 25 of the two halves to form cylindrical bores to receive the pipes.

The male die again has four legs 30, 31, 32, 33 and a body portion 29. The latter however is not solid, but has a cavity 54 complementary to and co-acting with the extension 53 of the insert. Edges 34*, 34 35 35", 36, 36 37 37 similar to 36, 37, 38, 39 of Fig. 5 but placed as shown (see Fig.14) insure the pipes splitting along the desired mes.

The manner in which these dies are used to produce the structure shown in Fig. 15 will be evident.

The amount of taper given to the extension 53 and the cooperating cavity 54 is not fixed but may be varied within certain rather wide limits. If the taper is made abrupt enough the opening 50 (Fig. 15) will be entirely closed and this may be desirable for some purposes.

The structure produced in the dies just described, (Fig. 15) will be difi'erently completed from this stage on, depending upon the use it is to be put to. Fig. 17 shows how the inner square tube 41 is closed by draw-' ing it down at its tip 55. The outer square may then be joined to another tube or roupde nected as desired.

In Fig. 16 a form is shown in which the inner and outer square tubes are drawn to a common point 56. Uses for this form will readily suggest themselves.

Throughout the discussion so far it has been assumed that four pipes are to be joined into a common manifold. The process and apparatus may, however, obviously be readily modified to join three pipes, or more than four pipes. It will be unnecessary to describe the required modifications in detail, but it is believed advisable to illus tra'te one form of such dies at least diagrammatically. This is done in Figs. 18 and 25 where sectional views of the dies are shown which are required to join three and five pipes respectively. These sections correspond to Fig. 3 of the four-pipe'form.

Referring first to Fig. 18, the loose insert 11 is held in place by the tongues l8 which extend into the three symmetrical parts 9. The pipes are shown in position, and their walls will be split along the lines 57, 58, and 59 and bent outward and welded together into a triangular shape. The subsequent operations on such a unit will depend again on the relation in which it is to be employed.

In dies for joining more than four pipes it will generally .be.more convenient to proceed in a manner analogous to that discussed in connection with Figs. 10 to 15, i. e., to split the pipes along two lines each, e. g. 60, 61, 62, 63, and 64, Fig. 25, and form a central hollow portion or stem 11". This will be readily understood from the preceding discussion, and the subsequent operations on units so formed need no description.

. What I claim is:

1. The process of forming manifolds on pipes which comprises clamping a plurality of pipes so that they lie at the corners of a polygon, heating the pipe ends, splitting each pipe for a distance from its end, bending outward portions adjacent to the slits until they lie in the sides of the polygon edges of one pipe engaging those of the two adjacent ones, and welding together the en gaging edges.

2. The process of forming manifolds on pipes which comprises clamping a plurality of pipes so that they lie at the corners of a polygon, heating the pipe ends, splitting each pipe for a distance from its end along one line, bending outward the portions adjacent to the slits until they lie in the sides ofthe polygon the edges of each pipe engaging those of the two adjacent. pipes, and welding together the engaging edges.

3. The process of forming manifolds on pipes which comprises clamping four pipes so they lie at the corners of a square, heating the pipe ends, splitting each'pipe for a distance from its end alon one line, bending outward the portions adjacent to the slits until they lie in the sides of the square the edges of each pipe abutting against those of the two adjacent pipes, and welding together the abutting edges.

4. The process of forming manifolds on pipes as claimed in claim 1, the steps being performed in one operation.

5. A die for forming manifolds on pipes, comprisin a female and a male member said female member having a plurality of spaces, adapted to receive pipes to be operated on, arranged at the vertices of a polygon, there being a cavity bounded by planes tangent to the spaces extending from one end of the female member, the male member havin a body portion and legs shaped generall y complementary to the cavity and spaces of the female member but being smaller, so that when it is inserted in it it is spaced everywhere from its walls.

6. A die for forming manifolds on pipes, comprising a female and a male member, said female member having four spaces, adapted to receive pipes to be operated on, arranged at the vertices of a square, there being a cavity bounded by planes tangent to the spaces extending from one end of the female member, the male member having a body portion and legs shaped generally complementary to the cavity and spaces of the female member but being smaller, so that when it is inserted in it it is spaced every- Where'from its walls.

7. A die for forming manifolds on pipes, comprising a female member having a plurality of symmetrical parts and a co-operating insert, therebeing recesses in the parts; tongues on the insert shaped to fit into the recesses, the insert being shaped so that it fits snugly between the parts and is bythem in their closed position locked so it cannot move relatively to them. 1

8. A die for forming manifolds on pipes,

comprising a female member having a plurality of symmetrical parts and a co-operating insert, there being recesses in the parts; tongues on the insert shaped to fit into the recesses, the insert being shaped so that it fits snugly between the parts and is by them in their closed position locked so it cannot move relatively to them; there being spaces through the die in its assembled shape partly in the parts and partly in the insert adapted to accommodate the pipes to be operated on.

9. A die for formlng manifolds on pipes comprising a female member having two symmetrical halves and a co-operating insert, there being recesses in the halves; tongues on the insert shaped to fit into the recesses, the shape of the insert being such that itfits snugly between the halves and is by them in their closed position locked so it cannot move relatively to them; there being four spaces through the die in its assembled shape, half of each space in a die half and half in the insert, adapted to accommodate four pipes.

10. A die for forming manifolds on pipes comprising a female member and a male member, said female member having four spaces, adapted to receive pipes to be operated on, at the vertices of a square, there being a cavity bounded by planes tangent to the spaces extending from one end of the female member, a central extension projecting from the central portion of the female die into said cavity, the male member having legs and a body portion, the latter having a central cavity extending into it, the legs, body portion and cavity being shaped generally complementary to the spaces, cavity and extension of the female member but so proportioned that when inserted in the female member the male member is everywhere spaced from its walls.

THOMAS F. BIRBHNGHAM. 

